Headlight shield



May 12, 1925.

G. DE WALD HEADLIGHT SHIELD Original Filed 1923 Patented May 12, 192.5,

umreo STATES GEORGE DE WALD, 01E BR OKLYN, NEW YORK.

HEADLIGHT SHIELD.

Application filed January 23, 1923, Serial No. 614,400. Renewed October 15, 1924.

To all whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, Gnonon DE TVALD, a citizen of the Unlted States, residing at New Yorlc city, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Headlight Shields, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to headlights or searchlights and has particular reference to such lights as are commonly used on automobiles or other analogous vehicles.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a guard or protector for a headlight, serving two main purposes,first, to so obscure that portion of the beam of light that would otherwise tend to cause objectionable glare, and secondly, to protect the lamp or lens of the lamp from breakage or other damage.

Another object of the invention is to provide a guard for a headlight, said guard being made preferably of sheet metal, and so designed as to serve to protect the lamp bulb and properly control the beam of light merging from the standard reflector as to prevent glare, even though the lens itself may be either broken or missing from the lamp casing.

ith the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a front elevation showing the relation of my improved guard to a lamp casing and the lamp bulb.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line2---2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of the guard.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings I show as a preferred form of this improvement a guard made preferably as a stamping from sheet steel or the like, the same comprising a hood portion 10, a rim 11, and a vizor 12. The rim 11 is flat and lies in a plane between the lens L and the rim R of the lamp casing G whereby the guard is held in position at one side of the axis a of the lamp, usually the upper side thereof. The rim has an extent of slightly more than a semi-circle, extending at its points a half inch or so below the horizontal plane of the lamp axis in an ordinary headlight construct-ion. Between the hood 10 and rim 11, or constituting a portion of the hood, is a bead or roll 13. Among the purposes of this bead are to stiffen and strengthen this portion of the guard and also to provide better accommodation for a lens having forwardly extending prismatic or other forms of ribs, such as are frequently used for the better control of the light beam. I wish to point out,however, that my invention relates to the metal guard and not to the construction of the lens or other part of the standard equipment.

The exterior surface of the guard may be finished by any suitable material or color, such as enamel, but the interior surface especially of the hood and vizor is of a reflecting nature as would be provided by the use of white enamel or paint suggested at 14. This film of white enamel is carried down to the extreme edge of the vizor at which edge is formed a lip 15 of narrow crescent form as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

The hood is provided with corrugations, radiating from a single point somewhat below the axis of the lamp. These corrugations serve two purposes, namely, to stiffen and reinforce the structure whereby ample strength is afforded with a minimum weight of metal, and also since the corrugations obtain likewise on the inner surface of the hood a better effect on the beam of light re flected and discharged from the lamp casing is produced. The dotted lines used on Fig. 2 indicate the direction of various rays of light from the bulb.

The vizor is practically a segment of a cone whose axis is somewhere below and forward of the lamp casing and so the transverse elements thereof are practically straight. This element 12 attords tremendous strength to the structure but from its position with respect to the beam of light it serves to obstruct a considerable portion of the light that would otherwise tend to cause glare or blindness in front of the lamp, and because of its shape the light thus obstructed is reflected radially as well as rearwardly of the axis of the lamp and then caused in a large measure to merge from the standard reflector within the casing in a Soft beam of lllumlnatlon.

The lip 15 constitutes a stiffener or reinforcement for the edge of the vizor Which Without such protection would be subjected to the action of stones or other objects from the roadway tending to cause bending of said edge of the vizor. I have found from extensive experience With the use of this guard that the best effect is produced by so shaping the guard that the top of the arch or central portion of the lip 15 is spaced slightly say about one-half inch above the axis of the lamp.

I claim:

The herein described headlight guard of a single piece of sheet metal having a forwardly extending hood formed Withcorrugations radiating from practically a single pointvbelow the axis of the hood for stiffening it, and a vizor formed along the, inner edge of the hood, the vi zor being in the form of a segment of a cone and having straight transverse elements, said vizor extending inward and bearing along its free edge a stiffening lip deflected outward in a direction substantially approximately parallel to the inainv part of the hood, so that the vizor will strengthen the hood in a direction substantially perpendicular to that of the corrugations aforesaid, the entire inner surface of the guardv being of a: reflecting character, said corrugations serving thereby to diffuse that portion of the light which strikes the hood from the lamp and the re-- fleet-or, sothat after being radiated back upon the reflector it Will issue below the guard in a more even beaml In testimony whereof I afiix my signa-- ture. V Y

GEORGE DE WALD. 

